77 comments to Monday Open Thread

Good morning all y’all. I woke this morning to a sad bit of news. Pope Benedict XVI is retiring at the end of February. A Pope voluntarily giving up the Petrine Office has not happened in 600 years. How long before the Media will begin flaying the Catholic Church and Benedict in the virtual public square, and making calls for a more “Progressive” Pope.

A lot of Catholics may be shaken by this news. I’m praying them, for the Holy Father, and that the Cardinals be guided by the Holy Spirit when they begin the Papal Conclave.

Leftists wasted no time in using the announcement to share their bigotry and hate with the world on Twitter. No doubt the media will be more subtle in its approach, but it will doubtless follow suit. No matter. There are plenty of decent people out there, believers and nonbelievers alike, that will wish him only the best.

I’ve been very impressed with how Benedict has conducted himself as pontiff in the last 15 years. John Paul II was a tough act to follow, but he’s done his predecessor proud.

Any beef I may have had with Pope Benedict VXI’s handling of the clergy’s sex scandals more than forgiven with his hand in replacing Cardinal Mahony with Archbishop José H. Gomez. Hmmm, more I think about it, nice chess move, Mr. Ratzinger!

CNN, that bastion of intelligent and unbiased reporting, suggests that global warming might cause asteroids. That’s how bad our SUVs are, people! The warming is no longer global- it’s spread to the entire galaxy, and it’s causing rocks to break off from each other and go flying into space! God help us all.

Last week I attended the meeting of one of the right-wing, prepper, survivalist, gun nut organizations to which I belong and watched a presentation by Marcus Ruiz Evans who advocates for California to declare Subnational Sovereignty.

Evans is a State employee (Caltrans) whose experience with the department’s budget inspired him to look at the Switzerland model and more recent Scotland model.

It is fascinating and in keeping with the Texas spirit to secede and certain Texans’ fear that a California immigration boom into their state will ruin it, preferring that Californians stay put and fix their own mess.

California is screwed and is in turn, being screwed. I’m going to watch the calsov.org web site.

I am a “page turner” when the book inspires. However, I’m in my “go out to the movies” mode currently. But that will pass back to “flanneled and fuzzied with a good book at home” in time. It always does.

“Hello, I’m actor Troy McClure. You kids might remember me from such educational films as Lead Paint, Delicious But Deadly and Here Comes the Metric System. I’m here to provide the facts about sex in a frank and straightforward manner. And now, here’s Fuzzy Bunny’s Guide To You-Know-What.“

This from the guy whose company abandoned Coach Paterno and Penn State after the Freeh Report’s release. Fortunately, after what Knight said at Coach’s memorial, I’m willing to forgive and forget the throwing under the bus if Nike walks back jumping on the rush-to-injustice bandwagon.

I watched Sergeant York for the umpteenth time yesterday. It’s a damn shame our MOH honorees don’t get all the hoopla they used to… a few nights at the Waldorf, keys to the city, free bottom land from your home state, etc. I’m sure they do, but the media is obsessed with the mental midgets of the Grammys and 1600 PA Ave.

Forced to post a YT clip over at BH, just to point out I was right about Casablanca. Not only is this chick attributing quotes to the wrong people, but she’s trying to convince the world that Ilsa loved Victor more.
Here’s what I wrote:
“Speculation is fun!”
Here’s what I meant:
“I’m all for pointless speculation on themes (hours & hours of fun!), but stop stating your opinion as fact, you know-it-all scrunt.”

When I taught HS college prep writing, I marked students down for writing “I think,” “I believe,” “in my opinion,” and the most dreaded “I feel” in their works. I explained that it weakened their argument/assertions. I told them that if they were writing it, they owned it. If they supported their statements with other sources, those had to be cited.

For example here. When I write, “The Democrats are nit wits,” I don’t temper it instead by saying,”I think Democrats are nit wits” or “in my opinion, Democrats are nit wits.” I state it as fact and am prepared to prove it with facts.

When analyzing literature, for example, when I write the following iconoclastic statement, it is my opinion and differs from the opinion of many others who are adamant that their contrary opinion is fact:

“Atticus Finch is the epitome of the patronizing, Southern white bigot.”

I didn’t read the exchange you’re referring to, so I concede I could be missing your point. However, if I didn’t miss your point, Wankette, then I am a scrunt and proud to be.